Courtesy of SPECTRE ... err... make that the "new" Kurchatov Institute
Possible Way To Industrial Production of Nickel-63 and the Prospects of Its Use Tsvetkov, et al. Research-Industrial Enterprise "BIAPOS", Moscow, Russia, Formerly "Kurchatov Institute", Moscow, Russia Nickel-63 (a pure beta-emitter with a half-life of 100 years) is one of the most promising radionuclides that can be used in miniature autonomous electric power sources with a service life of above 30 years (nuclear batteries) working on the betavoltaic effect. This effect is analogous to the photoelectric effect, with the difference that electron-hole pairs are produced in a semiconductor with p-n-transition under the action of beta-particles rather than optical radiation. In addition to 63Ni, among all variety of radionuclides only tritium 3H (half-life 12.3 years; Emax = 18.6 keV; Eav = 5.7 keV) and promethium l47Pm (half-life 2.62 years; Emax = 230 keV; Eav = 65 keV) can be considered as candidates for the betavoltaic converter.... All other beta-emitters are unsuitable for any of several reasons: 1) accompanying gamma-radiation; 2) strong bremsstruhlung, which requires the use of radiation protection; http://isotope.info/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/possible-way-to-industrial-pr oduction-of-nickel-63-and-the-prospects-of-its-use.pdf
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